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Sengoku Era Wedding Attire

Greetings In the not too distant future my now fiance and I shall be getting married. He has expressed a desire for a Shinto wedding which we are starting to

Message 1 of 3
, Dec 3, 2011

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Greetings
In the not too distant future my now fiance and I shall be getting married. He has expressed a desire for a Shinto wedding which we are starting to look into. I however have no desire to get married in a modern dress, Japanese or American. So I would like to make our clothes to be useable in SCA circles. His persona is from the Sengoku era, early 16th century, and I would like to find out as much as possible about sources of information on weddings in this time period.

While I am guessing that I will be making myself a slightly altered version of a modern uchikake from what I have seen online so far, I am happy that I won't need to do outrageous things to my hair. I am curious about what colors would be appropriate and how many layers would be expected for a woman marrying a samurai. Also I will be outfitting my maid of honor and I would be curious to see what types of changes I should make in her clothes vs mine.

As for my fiance my best guess right now is that he would wear a hitatare but I could be wrong on that. And again I would like to see if there is any information available as to appropriate colors. From everything I have seen in modern Shinto weddings the groom seems to usually wear mostly black.

I am not only interested in finding out the answers to these questions but I am also interested in seeing any sources that contain these answers, as I do like to at least personally know the documentation for my garb even if I am not presenting it as a competition piece. If the answers simply aren't available I appreciate that you have at least taken time to review my request.

Thank you
Lady Agnes von Heidelberg

Solveig Throndardottir

Noble Cousin! Greetings from Solveig! I believe that about all you have to do is dress formally for the time period which interests you most. As for color

Message 2 of 3
, Dec 3, 2011

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Noble Cousin!

Greetings from Solveig! I believe that about all you have to do is dress formally for the time period which interests you most. As for color combinations, either pick one for the specific season or for more general wear afterwards you might want to pick one of the all season color combinations. Many of the expected US customs for what to wear to weddings appear to have their roots in the 19th century. So, pick colors that will go well for you and expect to have fun.

Your Humble Servant
Solveig Throndardottir
Amateur Scholar

Ishiyama Gen'tarou Yori'ie

My Lady von Heidelberg; ... Recently, while researching a piece of furniture, I found a couple of web sites that specialize in traditional Shinto

Message 3 of 3
, Dec 4, 2011

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My Lady von Heidelberg;

You wrote:

> In the not too distant future my now fiance and I shall be getting
> married. He has expressed a desire for a Shinto wedding which we
> are starting to look into.

Recently, while researching a piece of furniture, I found a couple
of web sites that specialize in traditional Shinto accoutrements.
I don't understand Japanese, but the impression I got was that most
of their customers were those planning weddings.

I'm not suggesting you buy anything from those sites, but the pictures
will give you a good idea what clothing is traditional. In my opinion,
the designs of most of the men's formal garments don't appear to have
changed much since the Heian period, so many of them are acceptable
for SCA use.

The pattern sites you cited are generally considered to be good
references. In addition to the "katchu" section of SengokuDaimyo.com,
don't miss the garb section -